DC Metadata Template
User Guidelines
(Short)
General Help-
CONTENT:
-
Introduction
Nordic Metadata Template and Tool
The Dublin Core 15 Element Set
Basic Dublin Core Element Syntax
Short DC Metadata Example. Step-by Step Approach
Dublin Core and HTML
Dublin Core qualifiers
The <LINK> Reference
Full DC Metadata Example. Step-by Step Approach
References
Objective and goal :
This user guide will describe the issues involved in and related to the Dublin
Core metadata creation and provide explanations on construction of DC Metadata
records.
The goal is to provide guidelines and support on a advanced
level as well as on a general level.
The audience for this document will in particular be information professionals and
librarians, as well as people with more than a general interest in Internet DC
Metadata. A simple and short description of DC Metadata is provided for the audience
with little knowledge on DC Metadata.
The document will include :
- An introduction on how to use our metadata creation tool
- The standard set of Dublin Core Elements
- An introduction on DC element syntax
- Guidelines for a short Dublin Core metadata record creation
- Guidelines for a full Dublin Core metadata record creation
The Dublin Core specification is still under development and modification. After the DC4 workshop several working groups were established. They will provide further enhancements to the current definition and specification. Currently there are groups working on the DATE, RELATION and COVERAGE elements concerning the DC metadata sub-elements or Qualifiers. This means that the syntax given below is subject to further changes.
The World Wide Web has changed both the creation, distribution, storage and retrieval and presentation of information. The amount of information and networked resources produced are increasingly growing on the WWW. This means that there will be difficulties for the end-user to search, browse and navigate to the relevant information. Today, tools like different "web-crawlers" and "spiders" are being used for finding information on the net. Although, using a search engine like Alta Vista, there will be a serious cognitive burden when formulating queries, evaluating and retrieving documents. This solution is not enough. There should be other ways to describe the information than full-text. To solve this problem, we have to enhance the possibilities to find information on the WWW.
The "Nordic Metadata Project" provides one solution to this problem, offering users the possibility to create DC metadata using the Nordic Metadata Creation Tool.
What is Metadata - Overview
Metadata could be explained as :
data which describes a resource(s) or data which is associated with an object that describes that object.
Basically, metadata is a description of objects, documents or services which may contain data about their form and content. The proposed set of 15 elements has emerged from an international effort of concensus building manifested through a series of workshops. Bibliographic records and catalog records used in libraries could be seen as one form of metadata.
Metadata goals and functions
There are several reasons for adopting Dublin Core :
- Easy to create
- Simple to index
- Enables better precision indexing than full text
- Interoperability
Dublin Core supports and provides the information community in general with the means to :
- describe a resource (location, form etc.)
- make simple description and enable indexing
- discover a resource
- obtain and access the resource
- enhance the quality of resource management
2. NORDIC METADATA TEMPLATE AND TOOL
The purpose with this document is to offer end-users an introduction on how to create descriptive metadata records for information resources (i.e. electronic documents), and in particular to give step-by-step guidelines when using the Nordic Metadata creation tool developed within the Nordic Metadata Project. With our tool, you can choose between HTML 4.0 syntax inclusion or HTML 2.0/3.2 syntax inclusion.
BASIC STEPS :
- First, read this document to get an overview of what the Nordic Metadata Project offer and provide in terms of
tools, documentation and service.
- Read the documentation provided by the project:
- In order to get information about the Dublin Core specification implemented in our tool, you can read either the
Extended User Guide or the
Short User Guide.
- In order to get information about the Dublin Core specification implemented in our tool, you can read either the
- Describe your WWW page using the
Dublin Core Metadata Template,
We also provide a Short DC metadata template for simple DC metadata enhancement. - Fill in all necessary fields that will describe your WWW document. You can either fill in
free-text (as in the Title element), or make a selection from an enumerated list
(as in the Type and Language element)
- If you want to repeat a fields, you just press the "+"
button for that element.
If you want to exclude one or more elements, you press the "-"
button.
- It is suggested that you fill in as many fields as possible.
- Together with all 15 elements in the template there are separate help-pages provided
with each element (see help-page for the Title element).
These help-pages are presented in separate windows and can therefore be used during the process
of metadata description.
- When creating DC metadata for inclusion in your html-documents, you can choose between
the HTML 4.0 syntax or
the HTML 2.0/3.2 syntax.
- Use your text editor and paste the returned Dublin Core metadata record into your
HTML page between the <HEAD> < /HEAD> elements.
If you are uncertain of what to do that, please look at
the View | Document Source... in your WWW browser, and look at the <HEAD> < /HEAD> area of this page. - Finally, don't forget to fill in the Evaluation form.
This will help us to make this tool better for you!
3. THE DUBLIN CORE 15 ELEMENT SET
Below you see the current set of Dublin Core elements together with a short definition. This elements set was proposed and published as DC version 1.0, in December 1996 by the Dublin Core Metadata community. Each element will be further explained in our examples below or can be found in the separate help-files for each element in the Nordic DC Metadata Template. As has been stated before, the Dublin Core specification is still under development and modification, and therefore is subject to further changes.
Dublin Core Element descriptions :
- TITLE. The name given to the resource by the CREATOR or PUBLISHER.
- AUTHOR or CREATOR. The person(s) or organization(s) primarily responsible for the intellectual content of the resource.
- SUBJECT or KEYWORDS. The topic of the resource, or keywords, phrases, or classification descriptors that describe the subject or content of the resource.
- DESCRIPTION. A textual description of the content of the resource, including abstracts in the case of document-like objects or content description in the case of visual resources.
- PUBLISHER. The entity responsible for making the resource available in its present form, such as a publisher, a university department, or a corporate entity.
- OTHER CONTRIBUTORS. Person(s) or organization(s) in addition to those specified in the CREATOR element who have made significant intellectual contributions to the resource, but whose contribution is secondary to the individuals or entities specified in the CREATOR element.
- DATE. The date the resource was made available in its present form.
- RESOURCE TYPE. The category of the resource, such as home page, novel, poem, working paper, technical report, essay, dictionary. It is expected that RESOURCE TYPE will be chosen from enumerated list of types.
- FORMAT. The data representation of the resource, such as text/html, ASCII,
Postscript file, executable application, or JPEG image. FORMAT will be assigned
from enumerated lists such as registered Internet Media Types (MIME types).
The MIME types are defined according to the RFC2046 standard. Currently, the only
option available is the
text/htmloption. - RESOURCE IDENTIFIER. String or number used to uniquely identify the resource. Examples from networked resources include URLs and URNs (when implemented).
- SOURCE. The work, either print or electronic, from which this resource is delivered, if applicable.
- LANGUAGE. Language(s) of the intellectual content of the resource.
- RELATION. Relationship to other resources. Formal specification of RELATION is currently under development.
- COVERAGE. The spatial locations and temporal durations characteristics of the resource. Formal specification of COVERAGE is currently under development.
- RIGHTS MANAGEMENT. The content of this element is intended to be a link (a URL or other suitable URI as appropriate) to a copyright notice, a rights-management statement, or perhaps a server that would provide such information in a dynamic way.
4. BASIC DUBLIN CORE ELEMENT SYNTAX
For the moment, the Dublin Core consists of a set of 15 elements, which are embedded into HTML 2.0 or HTML 4.0 (recommendations). The HTML specification is generic, which means that other alternative sets of metadata could be embedded within HTML. At a general level, a Dublin Core entry coded within HTML has the following syntax :
<META NAME = "DC.ElementName" CONTENT = "Value">
In the formulation above, 'ElementName' and 'Value' are placeholders for one of the 15 element labels and its value respectively. For example;
<META NAME = "DC.Creator" CONTENT = "August Strindberg">
Together with the example below, we will try to decompose and describe the basic DC syntax construction for a single element. For our purpose, we will use the TITLE element as an example. The DC syntax for an element can be described as containing :
- The HTML <META> element with the corresponding NAME and CONTENT attributes as
follows :
<META NAME="..." CONTENT="...">. - Within the HTML
<META NAME="..."attribute, we insert
a)DC.which tells us that we use the DC element set, and
b) the Name of the DC element:<META NAME="DC.ElementName" ...".
I.e. the DC.Title tells us that we use the DC element set, and the DC element "Title" as defined by the Dublin Core specification. - Within the HTML
<META... CONTENT="...">attribute, we insert the value of the element:...CONTENT="value">of element
The <META> attribute CONTENT is used to allow a description of the value of the element (in this case August Strindberg is the creator) - As an optional feature, we can use the <LINK> tag to define which SCHEME is being used and a URL pointer to the reference to the scheme used. In our Nordic metadata tool we are using the Dublin Core SCHEME (SCHEME.dc), followed by the URL were a reference of the creator element is defined according to the Dublin Core Working Group.
Then follows the ElementName of the Dublin Core element, followed by the value of that element. The name of the element is placed after the
<META NAME="DC. like this: <META NAME="DC.Title..., and the value of that element is placed
after the ...CONTENT="..."> like this :
...CONTENT="Dublin Core Metadata User Guide">The value is depending on the element, giving the element value. If you want to describe the title of your document, the Dublin Core TITLE element is described like this:
In this section, we will describe a short example of how to provide Dublin Core
metadata on a syntax-independent level, as follows :
- create a DC metadata record using the
Short DC Metadata Template
provided by the Nordic Metadata Project
- provide a step-by-step explanation of the DC elements
- how to insert the metadata record into your document.
To create a full DC metadata record for your document, you can use the DC Metadata Template. To demonstrate how to provide a short metadata record, we will use a step-by-step approach on the following example below (the metadata record for this user guide document). The example below is according to the HTML 2.0/3.2 Standard since this is default in our metadata creation tool.
Step 2. Go to the Short DC Metadata template.
Step 3. Start using the template by filling in the DC elements as follows :
-
Element : Title
Definition : The name given to the resource by the CREATOR or PUBLISHER .
From our example : "DC Metadata User Guidelines"
Element : Author or Creator
Definition : The person(s) or organization(s) primarily responsible for the intellectual
content of the resource. For example, authors in the case of written
documents, artists, photographers, or illustrators in the case of
visual resources. For personal names we prefer the "Last name, First name" praxis.
From our example : "Hansen, Preben"
Element : Subject or Keyword
Definition : The topic of the resource. Usually, the subject will be expressed as keywords or
phrases that describe the subject or content of the resource. The use of controlled vocabularies
(such as MEdical Subject Headings) and classification schemas (for example, Library of Congress
Classification numbers or Dewey Decimal numbers) are encouraged.
The keywords (words or phrases) are separated by comma.
From our example : "Dublin Core, Metadata, User Guidelines"
Element : Date
Definition : Date associated with the creation or availability of the resource.
It could be a single data and a range of date.
This element is automatically generated by our DC metadata tool
and based on the HTTP server supplied date.
From our examples :
SCHEME=ISO8601 "1998-01-16"
Element : Resource Type
Definition : The category of the resource, such as home page, novel, poem,
working paper, technical report, essay, dictionary. It is expected that
RESOURCE TYPE will be chosen from an enumerated list of types.
From our example : "User Guide, Tutorial"
Element : Resource Identifier
Definition : String or number used to uniquely identify the resource.
Examples for networked resources include URLs and URNs (when implemented).
Other globally-unique identifiers, such as International Standard
Book Numbers (ISBN) or other formal names would also be candidates for this element.
The default is the URL to the resource :
From our example : "http://www.sics.se/~preben/DC/DC_guide.html"
Element : Language
Definition : Language(s) of the intellectual content of the resource.
This element is automatically generated by our DC metadata tool.
From our example : SCHEME=ISO.639-1 "sv"
Step 4. Finally, when you have created a DC metadata record with the Nordic Metadata Tool,
we need to insert the short DC metadata record into your own HTML document.
To do this you just copy the record from the page created by our template, and paste it
into your document between the HEAD tags, as illustrated below.
This document describes two syntaxes for encoding Dublin Core metadata. The first syntax is compliant with HTML DTD (Document Type Definition) 2.0/3.2 and the second syntax is compliant with the HTML DTD (Document Type Definition) 4.0. The last HTML DTD was a result of the W3C community to enhance the functionality of the tag
We will give examples of both syntaxes since we use both in our Nordic metadata creation tool.
The syntax used for embedding simple or unqualified Dublin Core metadata (i.e. without Qualifiers) within HTML using the HTML DTD 2.0/3.2 is as follows:
Although simplicity is one of the fundamentals of the Dublin Core metadata initiative, there are also a set of additional qualifiers to allow refienements of the semantics of the elements.
There are two alternative forms of the syntax for encoding qualified Dublin Core metadata :
- The HTML 4.0 syntax. This syntax represents the approach preferred by the Dublin Core community.
- The HTML 2.0 syntax.
The syntax for encoding qualified Dublin Core metadata in HTML 4.0 is as follows:
7. DUBLIN CORE QUALIFIERS (SCHEME and TYPE)
The Dublin Core proposal for metadata involves a basic set of fifteen DC elements. These elements provide a basic set of description for a electronic document or object.
However, these fifteen elements are in many cases, not sufficient.
To solve this situation and in order to better describe the resource, the
DC Working Group has proposed the use of a set of Qualifiers -
Dublin Core Qualifiers.
Another list is proposed by Rebecca Guenther, Library of Congress, in the document :
Dublin Core Qualifiers/Substructure : a proposal
were a minimal set of qualifiers is suggested. Both these documents should be considered as
drafts, although relatively stable concerning the most important schemes and types.
The idea is that the basic fifteen elements may be further enhanced by
the use of SCHEME and TYPE qualifiers.
The qualifiers have an identifier and a valuae.
The purpose with the qualifiers is to inform the user how to view or interpret the
value in the element. It is also used for further definition of the semantic content of the
element.
The most important restriction on their use is worth restating:
"qualifiers may be used to refine meaning within an element, but not to extend any element".
The SCHEME qualifier
The SCHEME qualifier is used to interpret the value of the content.
SCHEME qualifier identifies some recognised coding system used in
the description of a specific Dublin Core element. The purpose is to introduce some degree of
consistency and standardisation into the Dublin Core record.
The HTML 2.0/3.2 syntax of a DC metadata element containing the SCHEME qualifier:
<META NAME="DC.ElementName" CONTENT="(SCHEME=identifier) value">
e.g. <META NAME="DC.Date" CONTENT="(SCHEME=ISO8601) 1996-09-23">
The HTML 4.0 syntax for the same looks like this:
<META NAME="DC.ElementName"
SCHEME="SchemeValue"
CONTENT="ContentValue">
e.g.
<META NAME="DC.Date"
SCHEME="ISO8601"
CONTENT="1996-09-23">
The TYPE qualifier
The TYPE qualifier is used to refine the definition of the DC element
data. The TYPE qualifier, is then used where a Dublin Core element is repeated
in a metadata description. You may, for example, use the creator
element several times in order to provide the values "name", "address" and "telephone"
information. The syntax of a DC metadata element containing the TYPE qualifier:
<META NAME="DC.Element name.TYPE identifier" CONTENT="value">
<META NAME="DC.Creator.Addressemail" CONTENT="juha.hakala@helsinki.fi">
For example, the DC element DC.Date has the qualifiers SCHEME
and TYPE, where the TYPE qualifier more specifically could
tell us when the resource was made available, and SCHEME tells us
according to which standard we defined that date, like this according to HTML 2.0/3.2 syntax:
<META NAME="DC.Date.Current" CONTENT="(SCHEME=ISO8601) 1996-09-23">
and according to HTML 4.0 syntax:
In the example above, we used the "ISO8601" standard to define the
SCHEME after which the date should be interpreted. We also used the
TYPE qualifier "current", i.e. the date on which the current form of the resource was created. Finally, the
value "1996-09-23" was assigned to the qualifier according to the ISO8601
standard.
8. The <LINK> Reference
Our DC Metadata template will also provide your HTML document with a
<LINK>
after every element. This feature is optional, but we think it is good to give a
pointer to further information about the individual Dublin Core element definitions.
Our tool automatically creates a pointer to the DC metadata specification agreed
upon by the Dublin Core working group.
It is also possible to provide other types of pointers, like a REFERENCE to an
offline source or an HREF to another web page.
The tag follows the syntax:
<LINK REL=SCHEMA.Scheme HREF="SchemeURI">
where 'Scheme' is a placeholder for a short scheme identifier, and 'SchemeURI' is the address for further information about the scheme. For example,
<LINK REL=SCHEMA.imt HREF="http://sunsite.auc.dk/RFC/rfc/rfc2046.html">
The following Dublin Core metadata example is taken from the
"Nordic Metadata Project" Web page.
We will show how to provide metadata, by a "step-by step" approach of this example and
examine the metadata record element by element.
We will also show the example using both the HTML 2.0/3.2 and HTML 4.0 syntax.
The different metadata elements created for a WWW page, either with this tool or manually, use the HTML <META> tag, and the <LINK> tag. The whole set of metadata (the description) is placed within the page's < HEAD> < /HEAD> field, as shown below (all <LINK REL tags have been removed, but will appear in the explanations below, although they are automatically created by our service).
Using the HTML 2.0/3.2 syntax:
Using the HTML 4.0 syntax:
Let us now go through the example above, element by element, following the order in which the elements are provided in the template by our service. You will find that not all of the elements are used in the example, and in those cases we will give some other general example of how that elements could be created.
The <LINK REL option is automatically inserted by the Nordic Metadata
Project tool and service. It tells us that we used the Dublin Core Metadata specification
and a pointer (URL) to the official description of the title element. As described above,
it is possible to provide pointers, like a REFERENCE to an offline source or an HREF
to another web page. e.g.
Furthermore, as can be noted, the syntax for HTML 2.0/3.2 and HTML 4.0 are sometimes the same except when there are a SCHEME qualifier. We will anyway provide the HTML 4.0 syntax along with the HTML 2.0/3.2 syntax in our examples.
1. Element : Title
Syntax : DC.TitleDefinition : This element describes the name given to the resource by the CREATOR or PUBLISHER. In our example we have the title of the document (Nordic Metadata Project Homepage)
The default value of the title name is the main title of the resource.
From our example:
A TYPE qualifiers can be used, describing an alternative title such as a subtitle, a translated title, etc, like this:
2. Element: Creator
Syntax : DC.SubjectDefinition : The person(s) or organization(s) primarily responsible for the intellectual content of the resource. For example, authors in the case of written documents, artists, photographers, or illustrators in the case of visual resources. To enhance the searchability of your document, we use the following syntax for personal names: "Last Name, First Name".
In our example the author is "Hansen, Preben".
To refine the description of the author, we can also provide his email address.
To do this, we use qualifiers (see below for more information).
As we can see, the syntax for the TYPE qualifier is "DC.Creator.
PersonalName.Address" and put after the element name and separated with a "." (dot),
with the value "preben@sics.se"
The default value of the element name is the name of the creator or author:
From our example:
You can use the Library of Congress Name Authority File as a
SCHEME qualifier, which points
to a standard (USMARC), that describe how to name the author of a document.
3. Element: Subject
Syntax : DC.SubjectDefinition : The topic of the resource. Typically, subject will be expressed as keywords or phrases that describe the subject or content of the resource. The use of controlled vocabularies (such as MEdical Subject Headings or Art and Architecture Thesaurus descriptors) and formal classification schemas (for example, Library of Congress Classification numbers or Dewey Decimal numbers) is encouraged.
In our example, the subject description of the document is done with keyword and phrases.
The keyword and phrases are assigned using the qualifier TYPE and the identifier
keyword with the value metadata, Dublin Core Metadata Element Set,
Nordic Metadata Project. Using simple keywords is the default specification
in our DC metadata tool.
From our example:
The DC element SUBJECT can use both Controlled vocabularies (for keywords)
and Classifiaction schemas (for notations) as SCHEME qualifiers.
Controlled vocabularies available for the choice of keywords:
Experimental WWW
interface to the WordNet lexical database, at ILRT, Bristol (for synonyms etc. to plain English words)
Classification schemes available for the choice of notations:
Automatic Dewey classification of HTML pages available from OCLC (experimental)
List of other schemes not freely and/or digitally available:
Other examples
In example B, the user wants to use the UDC classification scheme for his document
and the user defines the value to
From our example:
As
In our example, the publisher of the document is the project itself :
Nordic Metadata Project
In our example there was no other contributor, and consequently the field was
left empty.
Other examples:
To refine the element of contributors, we can also add the corporate name of the author
using the
Default value for date is the form YYYY-MM-DD (1996-09-23) as defined by
http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime
In our example, the data element holds the TYPE qualifier "Date.X-MetadataLastModified"
value and tells us when the document was last modified.
From our example:
Since our document describes a project funded by NORDINFO, we will have to describe
the document using the DC.Type element. To do this, we have provided an enumerated
list of types. Please, use the scroll-box and select the appropriate value for your
type element. If you can not find the right one, you can always use a free-text string
that describes your document.
From our example:
Our metadata provision tool provide an enumerated list of different formats.
Currently, the following options are available
In our example, we have used the default version with the URL as a TYPE qualifier:
In our example there was no other contributor, and consequently the field was
left empty.
The default is a freetext string describing the source of the resource:
From our example above:
WordNet 1.5 on the Web - a Lexical Database for English (Princeton)
Roget's Internet Thesaurus (English synonym reference, words and phrases)
Universal:
National general:
Subject specific, international:
Subject specific, national:
USMARC Code List for Relators, Sources, Description Conventions. (Part III: Classification Sources and Part IV: Subject/Index Term Sources; these documents are currently under revision for a new edition).
SCHEME with the identifier
LCSH, which means that the user wants to use the the Library of Congress Subject Headings
to describe the subject. In this case the value is Cataloging of computer files.
518.118.
4. Element: Description
Syntax : DC.Description
Definition :
The description element intend to provide a textual description of the content of
the resource, including abstracts in the case of document-like objects or
content descriptions in the case of visual resources.
Future metadata collections might well include computational content description
(spectral analysis of a visual resource, for example) that may not be embeddable
in current network systems. In such a case this field might contain a link to
such a description rather than the description itself.
The default value is an abstract or a freetext description of the resource.
SCHEME qualifiers, you can use an URL which is the value is an URL
pointing to an external representation of the description
of the resource.
5. Element: Publisher
Syntax : DC.Publisher
Definition :
The element "Publisher" is described as the entity responsible for making the
resource available in its present form, such as a publisher, a university department,
or a corporate entity. The intent of specifying this field is to identify the entity
that provides access to the resource.
The default is a free-text string.
TYPE qualifier. Below is an example
using the TYPE qualifier Publisher.Address and the value
preben@sics.se:
6. Element: Contributors
Syntax : DC.Contributors
Definition :
Other contributors could be person(s) or organization(s) in addition to those
specified in the CREATOR element who have made
significant intellectual contributions to the resource but whose contribution
is secondary to the individuals or entities specifed in the
CREATOR element (for example, editors,
transcribers, illustrators, and convenors).
As in the CREATOR element, we use the following
syntax for personal names: "Last Name, First Name", to enhance
the searchability of your document.
TYPE qualifier as follows:
7. Element: Date
Syntax : DC.Date
Definition :
The date the resource was made available in its present form.
The recommended best practice is an 8 digit number in the form YYYY-MM-DD
as defined in http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime , a profile of ISO 8601.
In this scheme, the date element 1994-11-05 corresponds to November 5, 1994.
Many other schema are possible, but if used, they should be
identified in an unambiguous manner.
The other TYPE qualifier identidier, "creation" date, holds the date on which the
resource was first created. This is the default TYPE qualifier value.
8. Element: Type
Syntax : DC.Type
Definition :
Resource Type : The category of the resource, such as home page, novel, poem, working paper,
technical report, essay, dictionary.
For the sake of interoperability, type should be selected from an
enumerated list that is under development in the workshop series at the
time of publication of this document.
See http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Metadata/types.html for current
thinking on the application of this element.
9. Element: Format
Syntax : DC.Format
Definition :
The data representation of the resource, such as text/html, ASCII, Postscript file,
executable application, or JPEG image. The intent of specifying this element is to
provide information necessary to allow people or machines to make decisions about the
usability of the encoded data (what hardware and software might be required to display
or execute it, for example). As with the RESOURCE TYPE
elements, FORMAT will be assigned from enumerated lists such as registered Internet
Media Types - IMT (MIME types). In principal, formats can include physical media
such as books, serials, or other non-electronic media.
The MIME types are defined according to the RFC2046
standard. Currently, the only option available is the text/html option.
htm, html; msword; pdf; postscript;
powerpoint; rtf; wordperfect; latex; gif; jpeg; plain text; and sgml.
We use the standard IMT (Internet Media Types) as the SCHEME
identifier with the assigned value of text/html.
10. Element: Identifier
Syntax : DC.Identifier
Definition :
String or number used to uniquely identify the resource. Examples for networked
resources include URLs and URNs (when implemented). Other globally-unique
identifiers, such as International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) or other formal names
would also be candidates for this element. Hyphenation (-) is not needed, and should be
avoided.
The default is the URL to the resource.
11. Element: Source
Syntax : DC.Source
Definition :
The work, either print or electronic, from which this resource is derived, if
applicable. For example, an html encoding of a Shakespearean sonnet might
identify the paper version of the sonnet from which the electronic version was
transcribed.
12. Element: Language
Syntax : DC.Language
Definition :
Language(s) of the intellectual content of the resource. Where
practical, the content of this field should coincide with RFC 1766. See:
http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1766.txt
Our metadata tool provide a enumerated list of different languages.
The default value is set to English - en, as in our example below :
Default SCHEME is ISO.639-1, a two or three character language code from the
ISO 639 (639-1 and 639-2) standard.
The value is a three character language code from the Z39.53
coding set for written languages.
13. Element: Relation
Syntax : DC.Relation
Definition :
Relationship to other resources.
The intent of specifying this element is to provide a means to
express relationships among resources that have formal
relationships to others, but exist as discrete resources themselves.
For example, images in a document, chapters in a book, or items
in a collection. A formal specification of RELATION is currently under development.
Users and developers should understand that use of this element should be currently considered
experimental.
Default value is freetext
In our example, no RELATION is being used. A general example of this element
can look like this, using the SCHEME qualifier URL:
Concerning the DC Qualifier TYPE it is most likely that we can see developments
within the context of collection-level descriptions.
Subelements may be defined at a later date. The following categories were
proposed at DC5; but should not be considered formal subelement names:
Creative (e.g. translation, annotation); Mechanical (copy, format change, mirror copy);
Version (edition, draft); Inclusion (collection, part) and Reference (citation)
14. Element: Coverage
Syntax : DC.Coverage
Definition :
The spatial and/or temporal characteristics of the resource. Formal
specification of coverage is currently under development. Users and
developers should understand that use of this element is currently
considered to be experimental.
Default is free-text. It is highly recommended that a type always should be specified,
at least as free-text as can be seen from our example below. Please use the
scroll-bar to select one of the types. The SCHEME is currently under development
and pending.
Note that this is a preliminary recommendation.
DC Coverage Working group is currently looking at this issue.
More specific types will be covered by the Coverage working group. Other proposed TYPE qualifiers are
DC.Coverage.y
which are for coordinate-based classification. The coordinates used are
qualified by the scheme modifier to support different coordinate systems.
DC.Coverage.z
DC.Coverage.polygon
DC.Coverage.line
DC.Coverage.3d
15. Element: Rights
Syntax : DC.Rights
Definition :
The content of this element is intended to be a link (a URL or other suitable URI as
appropriate) to a copyright notice, a rights-management statement, or perhaps a server
that would provide such information in a dynamic way. The intent of specifying this field is to
allow providers a means to associate terms and conditions or copyright statements with a
resource or collection of resources. No assumptions should be made by users if such a
field is empty or not present.
Default value of the element is freetext.
The Uniform Resource Locator pointing to the copyright for the resource.
The Uniform Resource Name identifying the copyright information for the resource.
- Library of Congress USMARC
The MARC formats are standards for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in machine-readable form. - RFC 2046 Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types (N. Freed and N. Borenstein). Obsoletes: 1521, 1522, 1590. November 1996
- Dublin Core and Metadata Overview.
-
Dublin Core 15 Element Set : Reference description (V. 1.0, Dec 1996)
- Rebecca Guenther : Dublin Core Qualifiers/Substructure : a proposal. (15 April 1997)
- UKOLN Metadata Resources
- Dublin Core Qualifiers (Jon Knight, and Martin Hamilton)
- Dublin Core Standard Resource Types (Jon Knight, and Martin Hamilton)
- Dublin Core Element: COVERAGE
Draft document, by the Ad Hoc DC Working Group, March 28, 1997
DC Metadata Template
User Guidelines (Short)
General Help
Created: 2001-04-16
Last update: 1999-11-22
URL: http://www.sics.se/~preben/DC/DC_guide.html